


Earth's night skies aren't black at all

by lady_in_aquamarine



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Everyone using fake identities, M/M, Vampire Abigail Hobbs, Vampire Will Graham, Will is actually William Shakespeare, anthropology and history, vampirehannibalfest, yes author is that insane
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 21:42:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16395620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_in_aquamarine/pseuds/lady_in_aquamarine
Summary: Not so long time ago our world was populated by three subspecies of people: Homo sapiens sapiens– or what we now call normal humans, Homo sapiens veneficus – or witches and Homo sapiens vampyrus- or vampires.  According to statistics ninety-nine point nine percent of nowadays Earth population is Homo sapiens, while Homo veneficus after Great Witch Hunts live in reservations the biggest of which is New Orleans on the southeastern United States. The last Homo vampyrus was believed to be killed by Abraham Van Helsing in 1897, but in view of recent events, their extinction is questioned.





	1. Chapter 1

_To be sure, this much I may presume that you do know, that magic is not a supernatural force that can alter the fabric of reality at fundamental levels, as it is used to be said by non–witches, but magic is a set of capabilities impossible for Homo sapiens subsp. sapiens including one to contact with non-carbon forms of living populating the world: spirits and plasmoids. People call them demons, gods, fairies, nymphs and etc. but these are just the different words for the same two types of creatures who are not well-studied enough even to talk about possible limits of their powers. All we know for sure magic is a hereditary trait, along with vampirism allowing us to call Homo sapiens a ring species with the historical homeland in Eastern Africa._

_Origins of splitting up of Homo sapiens into three subspecies now called vampirus, veneficus and sapiens lie in the dispersal of Homo sapiens idaltu happened at around 170 000 years ago. Some of early Homo sapiens migrated to Asia and then at Eemian interglacial (around 130 000  years ago) due to climate change a small group of them got separated from the Africa-European population by deserts and the Ural Mountains. Men trapped in Central Asia estimated at 5 nomad tribes traveling around Balkhash Lake and lately to nowadays Xinjiang province of China in summarily around 200 individuals._

_Those two factors: isolation and population bottleneck led to Sewall Wright effect as well as inbreeding in this group and therefore to fixation of different from the other population’s traits._

_Around 80 000 years ago members of this group gained a number of mutations such as pain insensitivity and an ability to accumulate static electric field both developing during puberty – those lately let Homo sapiens veneficus tame plasmoids (those natural habitats are near mud volcanos) without being harmed. But first of all, bio-electricity took part in hunt and tool and weapon-making as it allowed witches to make fire and use it on regular basis, while Homo sapiens subsp. sapiens had to transport it or create through friction._

_Impact of habitual fire using included change the diet. Also fire allowed drying and saving meat, fruits, and vegetables for harsh times. This in its turn led to rising of the population and second split up. One group of Homo sapience veneficuses returned back to Golestan Province of Iran along ways of First Silk Road forming lately classical Homo sapiens veneficus Homo sapiens sapiens contacted with no earlier than in 3000 BC. The second group expanded to nowadays China.  Their migrations continued along the Asian coast to Southeast Asia and Oceania, colonizing Australia before 50 000 years ago. This process was accompanied by admixture with Homo sapiens sapiens that came there thought India and Indochina. Most of the witches’ abilities were lost in case of Allelic dominance, leaving only astral projections and occasional unregulated future seeing for those who have full recessive genetic not broken by chromosomal crossover. (more details in chapter 3)_

_In the same time, the third group of witches slowly emigrated to the north through Siberia to Beringia (a land bridge that connected Siberia to present-day Alaska in Würm glaciation) reaching North America at 23,000 years before present. There it at first avoided meeting with Homo sapiens sapiens that had come to this area too but only at 12 000 BC. A new study of DNA suggests that the estimated effective size of the founding population for the New World witches is about 70 individuals with the same or a slightly bigger amount for humans. With rising of the sea level this way of migration was cut off leaving American group in isolation. Witches that stayed in the north of North America died out before Homo sapiens sapiens came there but the group that reached South America was overtaken and assimilated by one of the humans' tribes at around 10 000 BC– those hybrids carrying some of the witches’ genes to lately become Peruvian tribe of skin-walkers. (See chapter 6 for more information.)The other witches stayed «like they were». They integrated as priest caste into Maya civilization since early Archaic period._

_The number of proto Homo vampirus and their origins is doubted but it was no more than 50 of them for thousands of years and vampire mutation appeared at about 20 000 years ago, conjoined with a gift of pure empathy as well as other mental abilities such as hypnosis.  Evolution of vampires and their magic is described further below in chapters from 7 to 11._

A young woman sighed and closed the book she was reading, as they announced landing in Frankfurt. She has owned a copy of first print «V-people. A General Introduction to the History of minorities» by Tirsa Everett–Fell for seven years and really has learned it by heart. Eighteen years ago now the infamous family of vampires made an actual coming-out by this publication and turned the world almost upside-down since Homo vampirus as subspecies was believed to be extinct for more than a century. Hundreds, if not thousands of journalists, scientists and even bloggers asked them for an interview but were declined.  Clarice sent her request just to say she did all she could, but surprisingly received back a long old-fashioned handwritten letter, that was a very polite invitation for a visit. And now watched over with the jealous eyes of way more experienced colleagues she was leaving the USA and flying to Italy. It seemed strange – that vampires lived in such a sunny place as Tuscany, but she kept reminding herself: legends have not much in common with reality. Creatures of the night were humans – just a little different from those she was used to.

The second plane she was to take landed in small airport early in the morning leaving her and more than forty other passengers waiting for the first bus to the closest town for about an hour.  She dropped her bag right on the ground and seriously considered an idea of walking.

\- Signorina Starling? – asked her someone in a horrible accent.

\- Yes… Something wrong? - Clarice turned around just to see a woman in her forties not dressed for this weather – just a light long-sleeve blouse and jeans while Clarice was huddled in a winter coat, scarf and gloves, as it was just slightly above 4 degrees – a typical weather here for January.

\- Doctor Fell asked me to meet you, - said the woman in such a cold and sharp tone, so it could slash someone else’s throat right from the inside. Clarice opened her mouth and shut it without any sound. She didn’t tell Doctor Fell which fright she was taking, planning to get to the city and rent a car, but it seemed that she was easy to be predicted and the sent woman didn’t look like a chatting type. She helped Clarice to put her bad into the trunk and sat at the wheel, leaving her fingerless gloves on.

For a good hour, they were driving north in complete silence and all Clarice had to do was just watching the scenery flash by. They were moving further and further away from the remarkable places full of tourists spending their holidays making photos and sightseeing. The number of settlements became less and less, and they were losing their attractiveness and brightness, turning from more or less urban to complete countryside, until they became ordinary villages looking strangely the same as American’s somewhere in the Middle West, where there are more seniors than just adults, and all the youngsters had run away ten years ago or so carrying big dreams of something with them. Eventually, they will return here, when the city will chew them over with huge concrete teeth and spit out - then it will be bliss that there is someone in this world who still needs them.

But there would be others too – those who succeed, and their children and grandchildren would hardly know where are they from, forgetting everything while vampires she was now paying a visit will possibly meet them and smile mysteriously because they know the truth. Clarice shook her head and unconsciously touched thin scar on the inner side of her left elbow. Witches she had visited through years since she became adult and left foster care considered that she was under some sort of spell – but none of them could tell her which one.

 - Is it always like this here? – Clarice asked once she felt the woman watching her in the corner of her eye.

\- Like what, Signorina?

\- Peaceful to scary.

\- It’s getting worse from year to year.

\- I…

The woman clicked her tongue.

\- You’d better not me ask anything. I know too much and not sure what masters are ready to share and what are not.

\- Fine... I’d better play by the rules; - Clarice said and continued in her mind, - _of whose I have no idea about_. The closer she was getting to the point of destination the more nervous she felt. Her heartbeat rushed, but her stomach felt like a black hole, absorbing every single bit of warmth.

The gates opened automatically. Clarice noticed signs in at least twelve languages on them that warned that villa is a private property and if an intruder came in, he would risk not only his health but also his life. It didn’t seem like an empty threat. They entered the big house through the front door and the woman showed her the guest room and left right after she informed that hosts are waiting for her for the lunch at 12 am.


	2. Chapter 2

«Not so long time ago our world was populated by three subspecies of people: Homo sapiens sapiens– or what we now call normal humans, Homo sapiens veneficus – or witches and Homo sapiens vampyrus- or vampires.  According to statistics ninety nine point nine percent of nowadays Earth population is Homo sapiens, while Homo veneficus after Great Witch Hunts live in reservations the biggest of which is New Orleans on the southeastern United States. The last Homo vampyrus was believed to be killed by Abraham Van Helsing in 1897, but in view of recent events, their extinction is questioned.

So the motives of a murder are either v-motivated or s-motivated. S-motives can be traced to greed, survival, and revenge, but it’s more convenient to expand this list. The resulting one would be greed, revenge, sex, urge to protect self or a significant other, property dispute, secret-keeping, conflicts of different origins and in addition, murder can be a part of other felonies. According to the law, there are some murders that are not punishable. They are done by witches who have a license for dark-art magic such as necromancy and tributes to gods. Sacrifice ought to be a willingly offered, otherwise, it’s a murder case too.

But there is one more motive if vampires are still among us…hunger. We had known a little about vampires even when their existence hasn’t been called into question, but what we know – they prefer to live secluded and some of them kill as a part of a diet. The characteristic feature of these cases should be lethal blood loss without any mortal wounds - just puncture of arteria. The problem is that we all have heard that myth that vampires aren’t born but turned into and so not even some but many serial killers try to become ones by drinking blood and practice cannibalism. Unfortunately, there are no pieces of evidence whether the myth is true or not - vampires' writing system called Shtriga is still undeciphered. Probably it the same as the myth about turning lead into gold, or the actual truth but I want you to look at the photos and say what was the design of this murder. Who killed Mr. Jonas and his husband and left them as Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam in their own garden? Was it a witch with no license? Was it a psycho? Was it a cold-blooded artist as his murderer think of himself? Was it a man who was covering his tracks? Who?  I'm looking forward to you essays till the next Friday. If you have any questions – feel free to ask them now or through e-mail. »

Then the last of future FBI agents left the room Will pressed his palm into his eye sockets and let a low moan. He always has found this theme the most peeve part of his lectures. Students’ imagination was insurgent, turning vampires into monsters. Sometimes reading their works was funny, but he really didn’t want for someone to find out he was a bloodsucker. Will closed his eyes – following the telepathic web in his mind – and opened them in another place. The vision was blurry as he was still seeing both of the surroundings: the real one he was in and the room around his protégé.  She was sitting next to the window in some sort of train and pretending to enjoy the view. Joanne Blake was turned into a vampire in 1986 at the age of sixteen on an exceptional basis due to the brain tumor.  Too young appearance caused her lots of troubles so they had already faked her death twice, once for her real family and once - leaving California, and now she was living under name of teenage girl Abigail Hobbs whom, eaten by her own father, she replaced.  Will wished they could share a house, him claiming her as his daughter as they did in 00’s, but he knew she needed space. She looked the same and for the rest of her eternity she’s going to be this way but Joanne-Abigail still did make up her mind to this fact.

\- Any news? – she asked without greetings, they both knew how annoying and headache-producing was the maintenance of astral projection.

\- No…

\- How long must I wait for FBI to set me free from cannibal father? It’s hard to get them hypnotized all the time.

\- Patience is a virtue.

\- One more? – she cooked her had. Neophytes hardly could control their hunger – so no wonder she was excited about the idea of mixing her fake father hunts and her own meals.

\- Yes… I think yes. Already chosen?

\- She smells of cancer…but will do as an appetizer.

\- Be careful, - Will have raised his hand wanting to stroke Abigail’s cheek, but dropped it with a frustrated sigh – he can’t touch her, he’s not there, -  We all know how Dracula ended.

\- Shot twice in the head by a police officer, - nodded she.

Will smiled at her and slowly blinked back to Quantico. Back of his head was now throbbing, but this small conversation was worth any consciences. He took another aspirin pill and decided to get some coffee before his next class begins.

Jack showed up a week later, telling him a tearful story about disappearing girls.  It was the right time to start another act of theirs Satyricon. Shy and not quite able to protect himself profiler entered mise-en-scene of the narrative.

Will hadn't seen Joanne for nine months since they got separated. It was her first steps into a life of adult vampire thought she still had some training wheels in his face – and Abigail hummed up with screams. She wasn’t really hurt. It was just a small cut on her neck and she gave him a wink before she simulated coma by falling into lethargy … but his heart was escaping from ribcage like it didn’t for literally centuries. He thought that through four and a half centuries he got used to everything – to losing people, to let them go, it turns out he could not let Joanne go. Not yet.

He can feel the warm touch of her mind, but for all the people around they were strangers now. He couldn’t go with her and stay at her bed. All Will could do was pretend that he is shocked by his own deal and wait. Time was the only luxury in their lives.

_***_

_Life Chains (also called Conjoined Hearts) is one of those powerful necromantic spells that were lost during Witch Hunts of eighteen century, but we can_ _form a clear picture of it through love literature wrote in those days it still existed, especially from Adrian Salvatore’s drama called «Dana-Mary» in which Conjoined Hearts plays plot-making role. It was a spell that could save a person from a certain death if there was another one willing to share his or her life. Unlike most of the spells once done it could not be broken and it made both of persons involved in this magic bond age twice faster than in normal circumstances. Donor and recipient became one on a physical way – every bruise, every cut once get duplicated on the other’s skin. And of course, the death of the one immediately caused the death of the other. We know that visual sighs used in this ritual ought to be cut deep on the skin of inner arm and turned into ugly scars when they heel.  Runes called Berkana, Ehwaz, and Inguz are mentioned by different authors as a part of the magic-anchor combination, but they a definitely not the all that were used._

Nightmares were constant companions of Doctor Lecter. Telling the truth it was one particular nightmare that included him walking through the snow barefoot dressed in nothing by pajamas and carrying his dying from pneumonia sister to the closest witch. Through years the memory of that night didn’t fade and every single time dream felt so real like it was happening again and again.  Hannibal could still fell taste of blood of the first man he ever killed on his lips. He was eleven and wounded. Misha had a terrible cough, she was just a weak three-year-old girl – too heavy and fifteen miles were too far. He did his best to save her when their parents were killed … and didn’t succeed.

Hannibal woke up with his mouth opened in a silent scream. The clock on the nightstand to the left was showing quarter past five. It was easier to get up than make himself sleep again. He stood up and looked over his shoulder just to acknowledge that the woman next to him was still peacefully slumbering thanks for all pills she took in the evening. She was sleeping on her stomach, her head turned away from him and her hair spread out over the pillow. Hannibal has already drawn her this way more than a hundred times but still couldn’t catch the reality with his pencil.  It was a dead frost.

\- Miegotėk, mylima*, - he whispered before he closed the bedroom door behind him. It was going to be a really long day since FBI asked him for help with a profile.

Will Graham, he met that afternoon was interesting… if not charming. A college professor with a talent of empathy, people around him he found oppressive and did his best to scare them away. He wore his person suit (Hannibal felt it on the edge of his teeth) as easily as him but it was built in a different way:  as a freak not as well-behaved. The problem was that Hannibal wasn’t going to give up easily, as he saw something he couldn’t explain.  Fortunately, Minnesota Shrike’s case was a good pretext for working together. But _that woman_ started texting him as soon as she woke up and it was in the middle of breakfast he and Will were having in the motel.

\- Sorry. Is it acceptable if I check the phone? – Hannibal asked. Will nodded, thoughtfully chewing and doesn’t looking anywhere but his plate.

\- Morning. U fine?

-  Yes. You?

Hannibal quickly texted back and turned off the volume. There is no way she would be satisfied by one or two messages once she began. And yes, there was her answer before he managed to put his phone down.

-  No. My career sliding into oblivion.

-  Why do you think so?

-  Dru called. Trier took Ch. Gainsbourg for that E.

\- Are you upset?

\- Yes and relived too. Talk to me.

Will raised his eyebrow when Hannibal’s phone vibrated again but didn’t say a thing. Of course, texting with a speed of a teenager accompanied with a slight grin didn’t fit into that image of him Will already had in his head, also it was getting rude – first show out of the blue uninvited and then ignoring a man in front of him.

\- I’m not alone.

\- That early? Date or work?

\- Work.

\- Call me when it would possible. Love you.

Hannibal sighted - finally he could return to the interrupted conversation.

\- Once again sorry, but the last time I didn’t answer she crossed Pacific.

\- That’s ...

\- The word you are looking for is «weird». I’m very much aware of how it looks like.

He couldn’t phone her back for a long time. First, they were fishing for Mr. Hobbs in dark water, then were trying to save his daughter’s life. It was luck that Will pulled the trigger before man slashed girl’s throat. Ten bullets rapid – just to be sure that Garret Jacob Hobbs won’t stand up.

___________ 

* Sleep, dear.


End file.
